Staff report
The Soldotna and Homer hockey teams finished with 1-2 records at the 2021 Alaska Army National Guard Stars and Stripes Showdown at the MTA Events Center in Palmer on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, while Kenai Central was 0-3.
Friday, the Stars topped Eagle River 6-0, while Juneau-Douglas defeated Homer 4-2 and Colony topped Kenai 4-1. Saturday, Homer picked up a 5-0 victory over North Pole, while Kenai lost to Wasilla 5-1 and Soldotna fell to Dimond 8-1.
Kenai’s Jacob Begich, Homer’s Casey Otis and Hunter Green, and Soldotna’s Dylan Dahlgren made the all-tournament team.
Homer 5, North Pole 0
Keegan Strong made 22 saves for the shutout as the Mariners finished the tournament with a win Saturday and moved to 3-3 overall.
Casey Otis got Homer started with a pair of goals in the first period, the first unassisted and the second assisted by Hunter Green and Ethan Drake.
The Mariners picked up two more goals in the second period, by Green and Micah Williamson.
Matfey Reutov finished off the scoring in the third period.
Nic Clark had 34 saves for the Patriots.
Wasilla 5, Kenai Central 1
The Warriors, a Division I squad, topped Division II Kenai on Saturday as the Kards fell to 4-3 overall.
Branson Starheim scored the lone goal of the first period as Wasilla led 1-0. The Warriors stretched the lead to 3-0 after two, with Austin Petersen and Karson Mcgrew scoring.
In the third period, Sayer Sanders and Starheim made it 5-0 before Daniel Shelden, assisted by Jacob Begich and Logan Mese, scored on the power play for the Kards with 1:05 remaining.
Carson Koppes made 22 saves for Kenai, while Jakob Barcelona stopped 17 for the Warriors.
Dimond 8, Soldotna 1
The Division II Stars dropped to 3-3 overall with a loss to the Division I Lynx on Saturday.
Tyler Christiansen had a hat trick for Dimond while also dishing out three assists.
Angus Pflugh scored twice for the Lynx, while Tristen Bernsten, Chase Matthews and Soren Shafer added tallies.
Gehret Medcoff got the Stars on the board with 14:00 left in the second period, cutting the deficit to 6-1. Daniel Heath and Boone Theiler assisted on the strike.
Ayden See stopped 34 shots for the Stars, while Beau Brown picked up 17 saves for the Lynx.
Soldotna 6, Eagle River 0
Stars goalie Tanner Clyde made 20 saves to give Division II SoHi a shutout and a victory over the Division I Wolves on Friday.
Dylan Dahlgren helped the Stars get off to a good start in the first period. With 8:25 left, he scored, then assisted on power-play goals from Kyle Howell and Daniel Heath late in the period as the Stars took a 3-0 lead into the break.
In the second period, Andrew Arthur scored unassisted for a 4-0 lead.
In the final period, Gehret Medcoff and Ezekiel Miller finished off the scoring for the Stars.
Juneau-Douglas 4, Homer 2
The Crimson Bears rebounded from a 2-0 deficit to win the battle of Railbelt Conference rivals Friday.
In the first period, Kazden Stineff scored unassisted for Homer, then Dylan Arno scored on assists from Hunter Green and Stineff.
After that, the Crimson Bears took control. Camden Kovach and Fin Shibler scored in the second period, and Colton Johns and Karter Kohlhase scored in the third period.
Keegan Strong made 20 saves for the Mariners, while Brayden Baxter stopped 23 for Juneau.
Colony 4, Kenai 1
The Division II Kardinals struck first against the Division I Knights, but Colony regained its footing after that for the Friday victory.
Logan Mese scored unassisted for Kenai just 48 seconds into the game, but that would be all Colony goalie Kaylee Norman would allow, making the next 18 saves. Carson Koppes stopped 29 for the Kardinals.
Jacob Ross tied the game with 7:51 left in the first period, then Ross scored again with 1:38 left in the second period for a 3-1 lead. Luke Holman finished the scoring for the Knights in the third period.
Saturday
Mariners 5, Patriots 0
North Pole 0 0 0 —0
Homer 2 2 1 —5
First period — 1. Homer, Otis (un.), 4:06; 2. Homer, Otis (Green, Drake), 8:42. Penalties — none.
Second period — 3. Homer, Green (Barth), pp, 0:59; 4. Homer, Williamson (Otis, Henry), 5:21. Penalties — North Pole 2 for 4:00; Homer 2 for 4:00.
Third period — 5. Homer, Reutov (Green, Pitzman), 2:43. Penalties — North Pole 4 for 8:00; Homer 1 for 2:00.
Shots on goal — North Pole 6-9-7—22; Homer 7-19-13—39.
Goalies — North Pole, Clark (39 shots, 34 saves); Homer, Strong (22 shots, 22 saves).
Warriors 5, Kardinals 1
Kenai 0 0 1 —1
Wasilla 1 2 1 —5
First period — 1. Wasilla, Starheim (un.), 8:41. Penalties — Wasilla 2 for 4:00.
Second period — 2. Wasilla, Petersen (Holler), 5:19; 3. Wasilla, Mcgrew (Starheim, Woolcott), 12:40. Penalties — Kenai 2 for 4:00; Wasilla 6 for 28:00.
Third period — 4. Wasilla, Sanders (Koivunen, Mcgrew), pp, 6:10; 5. Wasilla, Starheim (Mcree, Holler), 9:41; 7. Kenai, Shelden (Begich, Mese), pp, 13:55. Penalties — Kenai 1 for 2:00; Wasilla 3 for 17:00.
Shots on goal — Kenai 4-8-6—18; Wasilla 8-10-9—27.
Goalies — Kenai, Koppes (27 shots, 22 saves); Wasilla, Barcelona (18 shots, 17 saves).
Lynx 8, Stars 1
Dimond 5 2 1 —8
Soldotna 0 1 0 —1
First period — 1. Dimond, Christiansen (Bernsten, Pflugh), 2:53; 2. Dimond, Bernsten (Christiansen), sh, 6:44; 3. Dimond, Matthews (Young, Sturgeon), pp, 8:49; 4. Dimond, Pflugh (Bernsten, Christiansen), 13:43; 5. Dimond, Christiansen (Pflugh, Bernsten), 13:59. Penalties — Dimond 1 for 2:00; Soldotna 1 for 2:00.
Second period — 6. Dimond, Pflugh (Christiansen), 0:21; 7. Soldotna, Medcoff (Heath, Theiler), 1:00; 8. Christiansen (Bernsten), 5:21. Penalties — Dimond 7 for 14:00; Soldotna 2 for 4:00.
Third period — 9. Dimond, Shafer (Bretzke, Matthews), 7:17. Penalties — Dimond 1 for 2:00; Soldotna 1 for 2:00.
Shots on goal — Dimond 9-17-16—42; Soldotna 3-9-6—18.
Goalies — Dimond, Brown (18 shots, 17 saves); Soldotna, See (42 shots, 34 saves).
Friday
Stars 6, Wolves 0
Soldotna 3 1 2 —6
Eagle River 0 0 0 —0
First period — 1. Soldotna, Dahlgren (Larsen), 6:35; 2. Soldotna, Howell (Dahlgren), pp, 14:40; 3. Soldotna, Heath (Dahlgren), pp, 14:50. Penalties — Soldotna 3 for 6:00; Eagle River 6 for 23:00.
Second period — 4. Soldotna, Arthur (un.), 8:24. Penalties — Eagle River 1 for 2:00.
Third period — 5. Soldotna, Medcoff (Burcham, Lockwood), 1:45; 6. Soldotna, Miller (Davidhizar), 8:24. Penalties — Soldotna 3 for 6:00; Eagle River 1 for 2:00.
Shots on goal — Soldotna 10-11-6—27; Eagle River 2-12-6—20.
Goalies — Soldotna, Clyde (20 shots, 20 saves); Eagle River, Offenbacker (27 shots, 21 saves).
Crimson Bears 4, Mariners 2
Homer 2 0 0 —2
Juneau 0 2 2 —4
First period — 1. Homer, Stineff (un.), 7:25; 2. Homer, Arno (Green, Stineff), 8:01. Penalties — Juneau 1 for 5:00.
Second period — 3. Juneau, Kovach (Kohlhase, Moller), 2:05; 4. Juneau, Shibler (Peirovi, Campbell), 7:40. Penalties — Juneau 1 for 2:00.
Third period — 5. Juneau, Johns (Monsef, Johns), 2:45; 6. Juneau, Kohlhase (Meier), 10:55. Penalties — Homer 1 for 2:00; Juneau 2 for 4:00.
Shots on goal — Homer 9-6-10—25; Juneau 6-7-11—24.
Goalies — Homer, Strong (24 shots, 20 saves); Juneau, Baxter (25 shots, 23 saves).
Knights 4, Kardinals 1
Kenai 1 0 0 —1
Colony 1 2 1 —4
First period — 1. Kenai, Mese (un.), 0:48; 2. Colony, Ross (Lynch, Dixon), 7:09. Penalties — Kenai 1 for 2:00; Colony 1 for 2:00.
Second period — 3. Colony, No. 25 (un.), 10:05; 4. Colony, Ross (Dixon, Coffey), 13:22. Penalties — Kenai 1 for 2:00; Colony 1 for 2:00.
Third period — 5. Colony, Holman (un.), ss, 9:00. Penalties — Kenai 2 for 4:00; Colony 5 for 10:00.
Shots on goal — Kenai: 5-4-10—19; Colony 11-12-10—33.
Goalies — Kenai, Koppes (33 shots, 29 saves); Colony, Norman (19 shots, 18 saves).
Kenai Central’s Jacob Begich moves the puck up the left wing during a 4-1 loss to Colony during the second day of the 2021 Alaska Army National Guard Stars and Stripes Showdown on Friday, Nov.12, 2021, at the MTA Events Center in Palmer, Alaska. (Photo by Jeremiah Bartz/Frontiersman)
